Resettable tranceiver bracket

ABSTRACT

A resettable bracket is herein presented. The bracket is configured to mount a transceiver to a vehicle. The bracket includes a first piece and a second piece configured to be pivotably connected to each other. A docking station is mounted to the first piece. The docking station includes a bluff, an over-travel stop, and a plurality of arms configured to restrict pivotable movement of the second piece in relation to the first piece. A fitting element is mounted to the second piece. The fitting element is configured to dock into the docking station to substantially create the pivotable connection between the first and the second piece. A spring is installed at the pivotable connection between the first and second pieces. The spring is configured to allow the second piece to automatically return to a default position after being pivoted in relation to the first piece.

INTRODUCTION

Long Range Radar (LRR) transceivers generally mount to the bumper of acorresponding vehicle by way of a bracket mount. Such bracket mounts areuseful in that they enable simple access and removal of the LRR modulefrom the vehicle. However, the design of LRR module brackets can belimited in that the bracket is unable to release kinetic energy absorbedfrom external forces. As such, after the bracket has been impacted by aforce of sufficient mass and speed, the malleable construction of thebracket will bend and is generally unable return back to its originalshape. Such bending may in turn change the direction in which the LRRtransceiver faces as well as the direction the LRR radio waves may beprojected. When the bracket is sufficiently bent, the LRR module mayitself be rendered inoperable. It is therefore desirable for an LRRbracket to be designed to release kinetic energy absorbed from externalforce impacts and thus enabling the bracket to return to its originalshape.

SUMMARY

A resettable tranceiver bracket is herein presented. The bracket isconfigured to mount a transceiver to a select piece of a vehicle. Thebracket includes a first piece and a second piece configured to bepivotably connected to each other. A docking station is mounted to thefirst piece. The docking station includes a bluff, an over-travel stop,and a plurality of arms configured to restrict pivotable movement of thesecond piece in relation to the first piece. A snap-fit element ismounted to the second piece. The snap-fit element is configured to dockinto the docking station to substantially create the pivotableconnection between the first and the second piece. A spring is installedat the pivotable connection between the first and second pieces. Thespring is configured to allow the second piece to automatically returnto a default position after being pivoted in relation to the firstpiece.

The first and second pieces may be constructed from metallic material.The snap-fit element may be magnetic and may releasably docks into thedocking station in an interlocked manner at least partly establishedthrough magnetic properties. The snap-fit feature may further include abulb that is configured to establish the interlocking manner in whichthe snap-fit element is releasably docked into the docking station. Theover-travel stop may include a slit configured to reduce insertion forcewhile the snap-fit feature is being docked into the docking station. Theover-travel stop may include a slit configured to reduce the springforce required to automatically return the second piece to the defaultposition. The interior side of each of the arms may be formed at anangular incline to reduce the pivotable movement force of the snap-fitfeature.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary vehicle having a known Long Range Radar (LRR)bracket mounted to the vehicle body in a known manner;

FIG. 1B is a close up of the mounted known LRR bracket;

FIG. 1C is the known LRR bracket without being mounted to the exemplaryvehicle;

FIG. 2A shows the exemplary vehicle after impacting an object and theeffects of the impact on the known LRR bracket;

FIG. 2B shows a close up of the affected known LRR bracket;

FIG. 3 shows aspects of an exemplary resettable transceiver bracket; and

FIG. 4 shows a front-facing view of the exemplary resettable transceiverbracket of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein. It is to beunderstood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely examplesand other embodiments can take various and alternative forms. Thefigures are not necessarily to scale; some features could be exaggeratedor minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore,specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not tobe interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis forteaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the presentinvention. As those of ordinary skill in the art will understand,various features illustrated and described with reference to any one ofthe figures can be combined with features illustrated in one or moreother figures to produce embodiments that are not explicitly illustratedor described. The combinations of features illustrated providerepresentative embodiments for typical applications. Variouscombinations and modifications of the features consistent with theteachings of this disclosure, however, could be desired for particularapplications or implementations.

As shown in FIGS. 1A-1C, the body of a Long Range Radar (LRR) modulebrackets 10 may generally be constructed from a malleable, metallicmaterial such as steel. The body generally has an LRR transceiver basesection with a mounting wing spanning therefrom. The mounting wing,extending from the upper half of the base section, includes two angularprongs which meet at the distal end to form a first mounting section. Incertain instances, Bracket 10 may include a smaller second wing (notshown), extending from the lower half of the base section, whichincludes one prong with a second mounting section located at the distalend of the second wing.

When mounted in a typical fashion, bracket 10 mounts to a mounting block12 on the interior side of the bumper 14 of a vehicle 16. Mounting block12 is generally located at the middle of bumper 12 such that body ofbracket 10 may be substantially positioned to hang beneath the entiretyof bumper 12. Configuring bracket 10 to hang in this fashion allows theradio signal transmitting components of the LRR transceiver 16 to bedirected outwardly so as to project its signals forward from vehicle 16and focus on various objects located at a certain distance in front ofvehicle 14. Fasteners such as, but not limited to, screws or bolts andnuts allow bracket 10 to mount to block 12. A protective cage (notshown) may also be fastened to bracket 10 to protect LRR transceiver 16from damage. It should be appreciated that LRR transceiver 16 mayotherwise be known as an LRR sensor box by those skilled in the art. Itshould be further appreciated that bracket 10 may also be constructedfrom materials other than metallic materials, such as, but not limitedto, certain types of polymers and fiber glass.

With additional reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B, after vehicle 14 hascollided with an external object 18 (e.g., a curb, tree, animal, etc.),the substantial impact of external forces may cause bending of themalleable metallic material constructing bracket 10. Moreover, whenbracket 10 is sufficiently bent out of shape, LRR transceiver 16 maybecome disoriented and thus unable to project radio waves in theirproper direction. This often renders LRR transceiver 16 inoperable andmay even create hazardous situations when transceiver 16 has beeninstalled in an autonomous vehicle (i.e., self-governing vehiclescapable of sensing the surrounding environment and navigating withouthuman input) or semi-autonomous vehicle. Such damage is therefore mostoften required to be rectified before vehicle 14 can be returned to anoperable state.

To address the issue of undue bending, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, anexemplary resettable bracket configured to mount to and hang LRR radartransceiver 16 (i.e. sensor box) from bumper 12 is generally indicatedby reference number 20. As shown, resettable bracket 20 includes a firstpiece 22 and a second piece 24 being pivotally connected to each othervia a fitting element 26 which is releasably docked into a dockingstation 28. A spring 30 is also installed at the pivotal connectingbetween first piece 22 and second piece 24. It should be appreciatedthat bracket 20 may also be configured to mount to and hang othertransceivers which are not LRR transceivers, such as (but not limitedto) RADAR and LIDAR transceivers.

According to one exemplary aspect of bracket 10, the first piece 22 andsecond piece 24 are each constructed from a metallic material such as(but not limited to) steel. The first piece 22 and second piece 24moreover each have a number of fastener orifices (not shown) that allowfor the docking station 28 and fitting element 26 to mount thereon,respectively. Skilled artisans will moreover see that fasteners such as(but not limited to) screws or bolts and nuts may be used to fastendocking station 28 to first piece 22 as well as fitting element 26 tosecond piece 24.

According to this exemplary aspect and as can be seen, when no externalforces are acting on bracket 10, second piece 24 is established to restat a default position relative to first piece 22 in which both piecesare substantially in a direct alignment with each other. Thisconfiguration further enables the transceiver to hang directly below(and often abutting) bumper 12 when transceiver 16 is mounted to secondpiece 24 in an exemplary manner.

Docking station 28 predominantly includes a bluff 32 with an ovularshaped cross section 34, an over-travel stop 36, and two substantiallyidentical arms 38 protruding peripherally from docking station 28. Theovular cross-section 34 forms shoulders 40 at the distal bluff entryway.These shoulders 40 help fitting element 26 stay put after being properlydocked into docking station 28, discussed below.

The over-travel stop 36 is a rectangular cavity centrally located in thebody of docking station 28 that may include a slit 42 at its bottom endand which abuts bluff 32. Slit 42 may absorb the kinetic energy createdby an impact against bracket 20 (particularly when such and impactforces second piece 24 to move in non-traditional directions such asfrom left to right) and in turn release the energy as stop 36 returns toits original shape. After external forces cause deflection movement ofsecond piece 24 to a non-default position (i.e., a 15°-45° pivot fromthe default position), slit 42 may also reduce the amount of energyrequired for spring 30 to return second piece 24 to the defaultposition.

The arms 38 restrict the pivotable movement of second piece 24. The arms38 do not allow the second piece 24 to rotate pivotally 35 beyond acertain angle (e.g., 29°) in relation to first piece 22. The interiorside of each arm 38, the side that faces towards fitting element 26(when docked) and bluff 32, is formed at an angle which spans from thearm's proximal end (which abuts bluff 32) to the arm's distal end 44.The angle is considered to be at an incline due to the corresponding arm38 being thickest at the proximal end and gradually thinning out suchthat arm 38 reduces to an edge at the distal end 44. As such, in thoseexamples of bracket having two arms 38, as shown, the entryway betweenthe arms 38 is narrowest at the location of entrance into bluff 32 andwidest at the location abutting the distal ends 44 of arms 38. Thisinclined angle thus helps to reduce the force required to properly dockfitting element 26 by helping to guide the element into bluff 32, suchthat excessive energy and force are not required to properly dockfitting element 26.

Fitting element 26 is constructed of a rigid material and, as discussedabove, releasably docks into docking station 28. When the dockingprocess is complete, a pivotable connection 35 between first piece 22and second piece 24 is made indirectly through the docked relationshipof element 26 and station 28. Fitting element 26 moreover includes abulb 46 which may be of a uniform width and that has a substantiallywider, ovular-shaped cross-section than that of the ovular cross-section34 of bluff 32. When docked, as such, portions of bulb 46 catch on theshoulders 40 of bluff 32 and form a releasably interlocked relationshipbetween fitting element 26 and bluff 32. This relationship requires asubstantial amount of pull force to release fitting element 26 frombeing docked. It should be appreciated that fitting element 26 may beconstructed from rigid materials, such as, but not limited to, certaintypes of metallic materials, polymers, and fiber glass.

Spring 30 is of a substantial thickness and stiffness (e.g., 350kN-mm/rad-to achieve 75 Hz pivot resonant frequency). Spring 30 is alsointerposed between the first and second pieces 22, 24 and is mounteddirectly to each piece. As known in the art, when second piece 24 ismoved to a non-default position (i.e., being pivoted 15°-45° by anexternal object as discussed above), spring 30 absorbs, temporarilystores, and subsequently releases the kinetic energy (i.e., load force)of this movement. When releasing kinetic energy, the spring torque thusautomatically returns second piece 24 to its default position (i.e.,being aligned with first piece 22). The inclined angles of the interiorsides of arms 34 may also help to reduce the load force required byspring 30 to return second piece 24 to the default position, byassisting to stabilize fitting element 26 during this pivotinginteraction 35. Bluff 32 and bulb 46 may have corresponding, interactiveovular cross-sections 34 to further assist in stabilizing fittingelement 26. When station 28 is constructed from metallic material,fitting element 26 may also be constructed from magnetic material thatattracts to and interlocks with station 28 and thus at least partlyassists in stabilizing fitting element 26 after being pivoted 35. Itshould be appreciated that spring 30 may be mounted to one or both ofthe first piece 22 and second piece 24 through the implementation offasteners such as, but not limited to, nails, mounting brackets, screwsor bolts and nuts.

While exemplary aspects of bracket 10 are described above, it is notintended that these embodiments describe all possible forms encompassedby the claims. The words used in the specification are words ofdescription rather than limitation, and it is understood that variouschanges can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure. As previously described, the features of various embodimentscan be combined to form further embodiments of the invention that maynot be explicitly described or illustrated. While various embodimentscould have been described as providing advantages or being preferredover other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to oneor more desired characteristics, those of ordinary skill in the artrecognize that one or more features or characteristics can becompromised to achieve desired overall system attributes, which dependon the specific application and implementation. These attributes caninclude, but are not limited to cost, strength, durability, life cyclecost, marketability, appearance, packaging, size, serviceability,weight, manufacturability, ease of assembly, etc. As such, embodimentsdescribed as less desirable than other embodiments or prior artimplementations with respect to one or more characteristics are notoutside the scope of the disclosure and can be desirable for particularapplications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A resettable bracket configured to mount atransceiver to a select piece of a vehicle, the bracket comprising: afirst piece and a second piece configured to be pivotably connected toeach other; a docking station mounted to the first piece, the dockingstation comprising: a bluff; an over-travel stop; and a plurality ofarms configured to restrict pivotable movement of the second piece inrelation to the first piece; a fitting element mounted to the secondpiece, the fitting element configured to dock into the docking stationto substantially create the pivotable connection between the first andsecond piece; and a spring installed at the pivotable connection betweenthe first and second pieces, the spring configured to allow the secondpiece to automatically return to a default position after being pivotedin relation to the first piece.
 2. The bracket of claim 1, wherein thefirst and second pieces are constructed from metallic material.
 3. Thebracket of claim 1, wherein the fitting element is magnetic andreleasably docks into the docking station in an interlocked manner atleast partly established through magnetic properties.
 4. The bracket ofclaim 3, wherein the fitting feature comprises a bulb configured toestablish the interlocked manner in which the fitting element isreleasably docked into the docking station.
 5. The bracket of claim 1,wherein the over-travel stop comprises a slit configured to reduceinsertion force while the fitting feature is being docked into thedocking station.
 6. The bracket of claim 1, wherein the over-travel stopcomprises a slit configured to reduce the spring force required toautomatically return the second piece to the default position.
 7. Thebracket of claim 1, wherein the interior side of each of the pluralityof arms is formed at an angular incline to reduce the pivotable movementforce of the fitting feature.
 8. A transceiver mounting system, themounting system comprising: a vehicle; a rescuable bracket mounted tothe vehicle, the bracket comprising: a first piece and a second piececonfigured to be pivotably connected to each other; a docking stationmounted to the first piece, the docking station comprising: a bluff; anover-travel stop; and a plurality of arms configured to restrictpivotable movement of the second piece in relation to the first piece; afitting element mounted to the second piece, the fitting elementconfigured to dock into the docking 1 to substantially create thepivotable connection between the first and second piece; and a springinstalled at the pivotable connection between the first and secondpieces, the spring configured to allow the second piece to automaticallyreturn to a default position after being pivoted in relation to thefirst piece; and a transceiver mounted to the second piece of themounting bracket.
 9. The bracket of claim 8, wherein the first andsecond pieces are constructed from metallic material.
 10. The bracket ofclaim 8, wherein the mounting bracket is mounted at the vehicle bumper.11. The bracket of claim 10, wherein the transceiver is configured tohang below the vehicle bumper.
 12. The bracket of claim 8, wherein thefitting element is magnetic and releasably docks into the dockingstation in an interlocked manner at least partly established throughmagnetic properties.
 13. The bracket of claim 12, wherein the fittingfeature comprises a bulb configured to establish the interlocked mannerin which the fitting element is releasably docked into the dockingstation.
 14. The bracket of claim 8, wherein the over-travel stopcomprises a slit configured to reduce insertion force le the fittingfeature is being docked into the docking station.
 15. The bracket ofclaim 8, wherein the over-travel stop comprises a slit configured toreduce the spring force required to automatically return the secondpiece to the default position.
 16. The bracket of claim 8, wherein theinterior side of each of the plurality of arms is formed at an angularincline to reduce the pivotable movement force of the fitting feature.17. A transceiver mounting system, the mounting system comprising: avehicle; a mounting bracket mounted to the vehicle bumper_(;) themounting bracket comprising: a first piece and a second piece configuredto be pivotably connected to each other; a docking station mounted tothe first piece, the docking station comprising: a bluff; an over-travelstop comprising a slit configured to reduce spring force required forpivotal movement of the second piece in relation to the first piece; anda plurality of arms configured to restrict the pivotable movement, theinterior side of each of the plurality of arms is formed at an angularincline to reduce the pivotable movement force of the second piece; afitting element mounted to the second piece, the fitting elementconfigured to releasably dock into the docking station to substanti allycreate the pivotable connection between the first and second piece, thefitting element comprising a bulb end configured to relasably interlockthe fitting element within the docking station after being docked; and aspring installed at the pivotable connection between the first andsecond pieces, the spring configured to allow the second piece toautomatically return to a default position after being pivoted inrelation to the first piece; and a transceiver mounted to the secondpiece of the mounting bracket.
 18. The bracket of claim 16, wherein theslit is further configured to reduce insertion force of the fittingelement while being releasably docked into the docking station.
 19. Thebracket of claim 16, wherein the first and second pieces are constructedfrom metallic material.
 20. The bracket of claim 16, wherein the bluffhas a substantially ovular cross section.